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McClatchy, Gannett, and Tribune own parts of the CareerBuilder job listings site, but McClatchy is starting to feel like it's just heard the song stop during musical chairs, and all the seats are taken.

Newspapers Sniping Over CareerBuilder

Online job classifieds at McClatchy's existing newspapers have performed well in 2007. But the Knight Ridder papers it acquired, which use CareerBuilder as their employment presence on the Internet, have seen their job revenue drop 14.4 percent.

Classified Intelligence reported the awful truth McClatchy CEO Gary Pruitt discussed at a recent Newspaper Association of America event. "We would prefer to stay with CareerBuilder ... but we have to consider all options, which would include selling our share," Pruitt said at the NAA's Mid-Year Review.

At one point, Knight Ridder owned a third of CareerBuilder, as did Gannett and Tribune. When McClatchy bought Knight Ridder, the papers renegotiated the ownership. McClatchy ended up with 15 percent, a figure that has reduced its revenue opportunity, according to McClatchy VP of interactive media, Christian Hendricks.

Classified Intelligence indicated that neither CareerBuilder nor Gannett are too concerned about McClatchy crying foul now. CareerBuilder's CEO said his firm would be successful "whether McClatchy's in or McClatchy's out."

Gannett CFO Gracia Moore told Dow Jones that Pruitt "knew what the deal was when he signed up for it." If comments were music, Moore's statement would be a very tiny violin playing for Pruitt, it seems.